All-film double-furrow sowing, an agricultural technology originating from China’s arid Loess Plateau, is now being applied to agricultural production in Kenya and other countries based on local conditions to help relieve the impact of severe drought on food production.

“In Kenya for example, if the technology of all-film double-furrow sowing is effectively promoted in the country, one-third of Kenya’s land can feed the whole population of Kenya,” said Xiong Youcai, a professor at Lanzhou University’s College of Ecology.

Xiong has led a team dedicated to dryland agriculture research and technology promotion since 2011 in East Africa.

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In 2022, his team, with the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, launched an international cooperation project involving the efficient utilization and adaptive management of rainwater resources in dryland agriculture in the East African Plateau.

The project was designed to further expand the adaptability and benefits of dryland agricultural technology.

According to Muhammad Ali Raza, a Pakistani doctor, who has been working on an experiment on the utilization of plastic mulch and drip irrigation in cereal-legume intercropping systems at a water-saving agricultural research station located in the city of Zhangye, northwest China: “The technology can not only avoid resource waste and effectively save water but also improve soil fertility and reduce evaporation at the soil surface. The crop straws are processed into mulch and used in soybean-corn compound planting fields.”

Courtesy: Xinhua

Photo Courtesy: Photo taken on Sept. 2, 2022, shows a field with water-saving and reduced-draining technologies in a paddy rice technology demonstration park in Fujin City of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

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